Powell, Rice Discuss Road Map for Peace in the Middle East
Remarks by Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to the Press Pool

King Hussein International Airport
Aqaba, Jordan

4:15 P.M. (L)

Q Did you get a sense that the two leaders trusted each other to
carry out these objectives that they announced?

SECRETARY POWELL: My sense is that a degree of trust was created
today, and they both left here understanding that what they both have
to do is perform. Only results will build on the initial level of trust
that was recreated over the last two days, and both sides left here
knowing action is required, results are required. And if they are both
are able to deliver, then I really think we have -- we are moving
forward, we have a way to move forward. And both sides will be anxious
to move forward.

DR. RICE: There was also quite a bit of interchange between members
of the two delegations, and I think that was a good thing, as well.

SECRETARY POWELL: While we were outside -- while they were outside
on the lawn, inside there were a lot of conversations going on. I sat
with the Minister of Defense and with Minister Dahlan -- and Condi did,
as well. Condi was with him for about 10 or 15 minutes, and then I sat
with him for another half hour, talking about security, let's move
forward. So I think that was very important, too.

Q Where do we go from here?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, first and foremost, we're going to get our
team in to provide a mechanism so they can talk to each other directly
and have someone in the room who can sort of make calls and monitor
progress and help them connect back to us and to other members of the
international community to get them the resources they need.

But it's beyond just security and intelligence exchange and
monitoring. There's going to be an economic component to the team
that's coming in, because we've got to look just beyond security to the
economic needs of the Palestinian people and the Israel people. So get
the team in place.

And, frankly, we have asked both sides to start doing things right
away. And Prime Minister Sharon said he would start doing things. The
outposts, we expect some of them to be dismantled in the very, very
near future. And he'll be taking other steps. They said they would be
taking more of the steps of the kind that Prime Minister Sharon
presented to me a couple of weeks ago. And Minister Dahlan knows that
we are expecting him to take some steps right away -- not months from
now, right away.

Q Does the removal of the outposts go far enough, initially?

SECRETARY POWELL: It's a start. I mean, we've got to get started. I
think it is a good start. It will show to the Palestinian people and to
the world that Israel is prepared to do things that they were not
prepared to do before this meeting occurred.

DR. RICE: And the Prime Minister also made important statements
about territorial contiguity of the Palestinian state and so forth, in
a kind of forward-leaning way.

Q What did he mean by that? And is his notion of territorial
contiguity the same as the Palestinians? Does it include bridges and
tunnels, or does it include a solid chunk of land with no pocket?

DR. RICE: A lot of these are issues for negotiation. But the
important thing is to commit to the principle that Israel understands
that its action should not pre-judge any questions that are there for
the negotiation. But we have hard negotiations ahead, obviously.

SECRETARY POWELL: A contiguous state has to be a state that both
sides accept and that is viable. It can have an economy, people can
move back and forth freely. And both people feel they have achieved
their objective. They have a state that they can call their own, living
in peace with another state.

But what it's going to look like remains to be seen. But I think we
have a pretty good understanding and they, ultimately, will make the
decision.

Q How quickly will the implementation group start? How quickly will
John Wolf get here?

SECRETARY POWELL: John will be here -- I'll have to get home and
tell him to pack his bag. He's been preparing for the last two weeks.
He's known about this for two weeks. So John is preparing himself, a
team is being organized. We've got two very competent envoys here now
in Ambassador Kurtzer, and the acting Consul General, General Jeff
Feltman. Jeff will be playing an active role with John, because
permanent Consul General is on the way out. So we're going to have a
strong team here and we'll be on the ground and operating in the very
near future. I don't want to tell you tomorrow or next week, but
certainly very soon.

Q -- of Prime Minister Abbas' statements about security? Did he go
farther than they had in the past in promising an end to terrorism?

SECRETARY POWELL: I think he has. I have never heard coming out of
previous leaders of the Palestinian people and Authority that kind of
unequivocal statement about ending terror, not because the Americans
want us to or the Israelis want it, because we need it. The Palestinian
people need it. And he said it in Arabic and he said it repeatedly.
He's been saying it for the last several days and I think it was an
important and powerful demonstration of his intent.

Q Can he do it? Can he pull it off?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, he is committed to it. The Palestinian
people and the Palestinian legislature put him in this position to do
so, and he has got the people who can do it in Minister Dahlan. And the
international community and now the President of the United States said
we're going to help him. And Prime Minister Sharon says, I'm here to
help you too, let's get going.

DR. RICE: And the Arabs yesterday committed to helping, too, and
that's very important.

Q Could you tell us a little bit more about the atmospherics, the
mood between Sharon and Abbas in the room?

SECRETARY POWELL: I think it was good. It was a formal setting with
ministers at the table and then behind. And they both laid out their
positions rather briefly. The President led the discussion.

But I think the atmospherics, once we got rid of all of the
ministers and went outside, the atmospherics as you could see from
whatever was on the screen, was very, very good. They got down to
talking as three men committed to peace, committed to trying to find a
solution. The situation we are in now is unsustainable for any of the
parties.

Q Do the prime ministers trust each other? Do you believe the prime
ministers trust each other?

SECRETARY POWELL: You know, I think a degree of trust was built up
over the last couple of days. Real trust is going to come from
performance and you'll have to ask them. But I think they both left
here believing that we have gotten off to a good start in this new
process, and they're looking forward to working with each other, and
that's a tremendous achievement of these couple of days.